


mad city (on hiatus)

by orphan_account



Category: ATEEZ (Band), MCND (Band), NCT (Band), SEVENTEEN (Band), SF9 (Band), Stray Kids (Band), The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Brownies, How Do I Tag, LITERALLY, M/M, Magic-Users, Mentioned WayV Ensemble, Minor Violence, Nymphs & Dryads, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Phoenixes, Pranking, Supernatural Elements, With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility, and smoke, for good purposes of course, guanheng doesn't know what's happening, hwiyoung is tired, not that type of brownie tho, sandman - Freeform, seongjun just wants a break, there's quite a bit of fire, they're all good friends dw, water goes everywhere, with fire comes smoke, wooyoung is tired, xuxi xiaojun and guanheng are childhood besties, yangyang is guanhengs best friend, yeah - Freeform, yeosang bursts into flames, yungi?, yunho wants guanheng to be ok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-30
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:06:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23324434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: huang guanheng was probably the densest person ever, seeing as he stumbled into a bar specifically for mythical creatures without realising it. as the residents continue to try hint that he shouldn’t be here, guanheng continues to refuse them.
Relationships: Undisclosed Relationship(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	1. 0 // intro

**Author's Note:**

> well, this is my first ao3 fanfiction. if this does well, i'll cross-post from my wattpad (glitrjaeminn).  
> follow me on twitter for my wayv au and changlix au!! (also glitrjaeminn) <3  
> \-- lix  
> p.s -- i messed up. chanhee is a 1998 liner so i added hwiyoung from sf9 instead. i'm so sorry.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊  
┊ ┊ ┊ ✧･ﾟ  
┊ ┊ ✧･ﾟ  
┊ ✧･ﾟ  
✧･ﾟ

“let me sleep! i’ve been awake all night cleaning!”

“not my problem,” hwiyoung mumbled, the younger hearing right away.

“being a brownie is hard work, hwiyoung!” wooyoung shouted. the older muttered something incoherent, but the younger heard right away. the brownie ran after the older, yelling loudly as a phoenix flew into the pub, accompanied by another young male.

“are you guys still fighting?” mingi questioned, hanging up his coat on the rack behind the counter and putting his tag on his sweater. the phoenix landed on one of the tables and quickly changed back into his human form to get ready.  
“yeosang, mingi! you’re here! wooyoung, stop it!” hwiyoung screamed as wooyoung kept whacking him over the head with the brownies own broom, full of dust.

“good luck hwiyoung-hyung. we’ll start cleaning the tables,” yeosang shouted, wringing out a cloth and pulling out a bucket to fill up.

“traitors!” the older yelled as mark, xiaojun and lucas walked in the door.

“hwiyoung needs help, quick,” mingi muttered to the three, all nodding and running after wooyoung and hwiyoung. 

thirteen of the boys ran a bar in seoul, specifically for magic holders and creatures. the previous night had been so busy that they all forgot to clean the tables as wooyoung had his brownie duties, seongjun had to help kids from all over the district and xiaojun had to go back to the ocean to sleep.

finally, the remaining boys, chan (possessing hydroportation powers), changbin (an imp), san (possessing the ability to see the unknown), seongjun (a sandman), yunho (possessing aerona magic) and haknyeon (possessing pyromancy) walked in and they could wait until 6 pm to finally start working.

“we need to try to get some more customers, i mean, obviously, the bar is only able to be seen by people like us, but more publicity. you know?” hwiyoung told his friends. kim youngkyun, who prefers to go by hwiyoung, was the owner of the bar and famous for it. everyone in south korea knew who he was. he possessed the ability of beserking, not being able to control any of his abilities, only accessible through his unstable emotions.

kang yeosang, a pretty male who could go to and from his human form to his phoenix form. because of his phoenix abilities, he also possessed fire magic, opposite the xiao dejun, a siren living off the incheon coast. they often clashed because of this, fire and water magic but they were still very close friends who would do anything for each other and their friends.

mark lee, a canadian boy possessing nature magic through his dryad side. dryads weren’t common in canada or even korea so he was known by quite a few creatures. jung wooyoung is a brownie, a creature bound to a household and cleans it from top to bottom in a single night while the owners are asleep. they are very kind to wooyoung and he loves going there but hates his status as endangered. 

song mingi, a ridiculously tall person with smoke manipulation powers who is probably one of the softest people chanhee knew. he was a bit clumsy but has good intentions. the other skyscraper, jeong yunho, with rare aerona abilities, able to tell when someone has an illness, mental or physical. the rest of their friends think that they both like each other but neither of them will say anything about it. 

huang xuxi and lee chan both possessed water-based abilities, aquatic respiration and hydroportation respectively. they had known each since a young age and have been friends ever since xuxi saved chan from drowning. ju haknyeon, another opposite to their water magic, he has the ability of pyromancy, seeing visions through a burning fire. all of them cherish each other and are the three eldest of the group.

son seongjun, an individual you may see sleeping on the job due to his demanding job as a sandman for the seoul/incheon district. it is extremely rare for seongjun to talk but everyone understands him anyway, especially the older people in the group. choi san’s ability is very rare and sometimes important. clairvoyance magic is the power to see the unknown and is not to be used lightly.

last but not least, seo changbin, an imp from hell, originally sent to throw korea into darkness by lucifer but befriended hwiyoung and the others so he was kicked out of the kingdom. he’s been improving immensely but loves to play pranks and tricks on everyone else.

but, what would be happening that night, would shock them all. how could he enter? he’s a human.


	2. 1 // a memorable first encounter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> guanheng stumbles upon a worker at the bar and yeosang is suspicious of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw, i messed up so i added hwiyoung from sf9 in chanhee's place. yell at me if you want.

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊  
┊ ┊ ┊ ✧･ﾟ  
┊ ┊ ✧･ﾟ  
┊ ✧･ﾟ  
✧･ﾟ

huang guanheng knew he shouldn’t be out after dark if what his mother said was true. he couldn’t help but wonder around after his tutoring session in his school library. he should have a little more trust in his mum, she was just looking out for him after all but guanheng was 19 now, his birthday a few weeks ago.

he pulled his hood over his head and started walking back where he came from after deciding to just go back home. were there really inhumane people living in korea? people who could use and wield magic? or even transform into a beautiful creature. now that guanheng thinks about it, he saw a bright red and orange bird fly over his head on his way to school that morning. it definitely didn’t look like a normal bird…

guanheng shook that thought out of his head and continued heading home. he really needed to get an apartment soon so he didn’t keep annoying his mother. they had come to korea from macau two years ago and guanheng’s korean still wasn’t perfect but it was enough to get through school and tutoring.

he pulled his new phone that he had gotten for his birthday a few weeks ago and looked at the time, 10 pm. his mother must be worried about him. he quickly wrote out a text saying ‘heading home now’ to her and picked up the pace. he didn’t notice the shimmer of gold above him that was the sandman.

guanheng hated having to get up at 5 am. it was enough time to have a shower, get dressed and eat before leaving his house at 6 am to go to early morning tutoring. he was entering college next year and needed to get an A on his english before he graduated in february. he quickly scrubbed his hair and pulled the uniform of his school on. guanheng grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the countertop and yelled “i’m leaving” to his mother before closing the door and taking off down the footpath.

“hendery!” guanheng turned around to find his younger friend, yangyang running up to him. liu yangyang was in the year below him and a little annoying but they were both chinese so they could relate to each other.

“hey yangie, why are you up so early?” the older smiled.

“wanted to go to the café and get coffee with you because i know you get up so early!” yangyang exclaimed. guanheng nodded and the younger led to way to the café on the campus, run primarily by the college students next door to their high school. it looked like there was a new employee behind the counter who nodded at them as they entered the shop and sat down near the window. the employee who greeted them came over to take their order. the boy’s name tag read ‘kang yeosang’ and guanheng noted that he was really pretty. 

“hello, i’m yeosang, what can i get for you two gentleman on a,” he checked his watch. “wednesday morning.” 

“i’ll just get an americano,” yangyang replied, smiling. 

“i’ll have a double shot espresso please,” guanheng told the waiter and the small boy bowed.

“coming right up!” he left and the two boys were left in a small silence.

“he has definitely worked a job like this before, he’s so professional,” yangyang whispered as yeosang came back over.

“yeah, i work at a bar at night with some friends of mine,” he smiled. the youngest males eyes widened at this. “how did you hear that?”

“you aren’t very quiet,” the barista’s nose scrunched a little and yangyang flushed red from embarrassment. “anyway, it’s fine. have a good day, you two.” yeosang smiled again and left them alone.

after an hour, guanheng needed to go to his early tutoring so he bid goodbye to yangyang and headed towards the library, confused. yangyang was actually pretty good at whispering, how did the barista hear him? adding on to that, yeosang had said he worked in a bar during the night. he looked the same age as hendery himself, so he had to still be in school.

he decided to make the very risky decision of trailing kang yeosang and see where he goes.

yeosang ran out of the café after the shift ended because he needed to get to the bar. he was a little suspicious of the older looking guy in the café at 6:30 in the morning on a wednesday. he needed to get a day job according to hwiyoung so that it wouldn’t be overly weird. he didn’t go to school, even though people his age were still attending and near graduation.

he ran inside of the bar to find hwiyoung, seongjun, mark, xiaojun and san trying to comfort an upset wooyoung. jung wooyoung and yeosang had been friends for five years and he knew wooyoung better than anyone. his problem could wait, the younger was more important.

“wooyoungie, what happened? was it,” yeosang asked quietly, carding his fingers through the brownies hair carefully.

“they didn’t set out food, they betrayed me!” wooyoung cried out, grabbing onto yeosang and hugging tightly. “they don’t want me, nobody wants me!”

yeosang hugged back equally as tight. wooyoung had really thought that household was a good one but they had to go and betray his best friend like all the others. he was the only brownie in all of south korea and a few people knew him for it, including humans. everyone knew you had to give back to a brownie for cleaning their house and if you didn’t, they would either be very angry or be like wooyoung, a mess of betrayal.

“oh, wooyoung, don’t worry, they don’t understand. come to my apartment tonight, alright? we can do whatever you want to do.” yeosang reassured in a whisper to his best friend, both hugging again before letting go. the older stood up and his face turned angry with hate. every time wooyoung was betrayed by the owners of the houses he cleaned, yeosang had the biggest instinct to burn down the house. he always did.

yeosang pulled seongjun and mark into the back room behind the counter and whispered angrily to them, “i’m burning down their house, they don’t deserve a kind-hearted person like wooyoung helping them.” everyone always agreed because you should never anger kang yeosang, especially since he had to ability to burn you.

yeosang always does as he promises and was happy to see the family’s burning home on the news the next morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> please leave a kudos if you like this book so far and maybe a comment with your thoughts?  
> \-- lix


	3. 2 // a bar for magical creatures

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it was too tempting, guanheng had to check out the bar and see what people were entering every night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> remember, i messed up so chanhee has been replaced by sf9's hwiyoung

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊  
┊ ┊ ┊ ✧･ﾟ  
┊ ┊ ✧･ﾟ  
┊ ✧･ﾟ  
✧･ﾟ

seongjun rubbed his eyes sleepily as he walked inside of the bar that morning, watching yeosang smirk at his work, hwiyoung and mingi cleaning some glasses, while mark and chan were cleaning down tables.

“hey, sandman! how was it last night?” hwiyoung asked from the counter, seongjun looking up, ready to sleep. he mumbled an alright and sat down at the nearest table, head down. “go to sleep, jun, you need it.”

seongjun didn’t respond, he was already asleep. xiaojun walked in next, hair still damp from the water. the siren had to go back to incheon every night with chan who could get them there quickly with his hydroportation and the older could get back to his house as well. the phoenix hopped off the couch and grabbed his wallet and phone before telling hwiyoung that he was leaving.

“be safe, yeosang!” the younger put a thumb up and exited the bar, hugging wooyoung as he and san entered the building. 

“how are you feeling, woo?” the phoenix asked quietly. all he got was a nod before the two boys ran inside. that was weird.

yeosang needed to get some food for his apartment, even though he spent most of his time inside of hwiyoung’s bar. he grabbed a small basket from the front of the convenience store a block down from the bar and grabbed a few packets of instant noodles and a bottle of water from the fridge in the back.

“what are doing up so early, young man?” the cashier asked as he placed his food on the counter to pay.

“work. it’s so tiring.” the woman nodded as she scanned the noodles. “where do you work?”

“at a bar, ma’am,” yeosang replied. she squinted her eyes at the young male.

“you look barely over eighteen.”

“i’m twenty, ma’am.” everyone thought yeosang was younger than he actually was. it annoyed him quite a bit. as she demanded to see his id, the phoenix saw someone outside of the store in his peripheral vision. it was the boy from yesterday at the café and he was talking to someone. was that yunho?

yeosang quickly paid for his things and rushed out of the shop, tapping the taller on the back. it was yunho.

“yunho? hwiyoung-hyung was wondering when you’d get to work.” the younger eyed the male from the café. he was wearing his school uniform, but why was he up at 7 am? didn’t school start at 8?

“you’re from the café!” he exclaimed, pointing at yeosang, but the phoenix wasn’t paying attention. he was wondering why yunho wasn’t at the bar yet. 

“yunho-hyung? did you hear me?” he shouted but then yunho sneezed. yeosang knew the elder's ability. aerona. being able to see all forms of illness. he leaned down to whisper in the younger’s ear.

“he doesn’t know yet but he’s got a cold.”

“i’m still here you know!” the boy demanded, then coughed. both creatures looked at him in worry.

“you should go home. you’re sick.” yunho said softly to the boy.

“i’m not sick, you weirdo.” he pulled out his phone and dialled someone. “yangyang? help, i need your sass, these two guys are saying weird things to me!”

“weird? it’s the truth!” “yunho, it isn’t worth it, let’s go back to the bar.” the two boys quickly walked away from the younger who decided, fuck it, i’m following them.

guanheng muttered a never mind to yangyang and hung up, watching the two weird men run away from him. they were acting so weird. how could they say he was getting sick? he felt perfectly fine. he started following them once the two turned the corner, only running to get to the corner. 

what bar were they talking about? there were so many in seoul and what bar needed its workers in the day time? guanheng was very suspicious of the two as he continued to follow them. suddenly, another person appeared next to them. he just came out of nowhere! the three looked like they were chatting happily before turning and entering a door.

“do you think he saw us?” yeosang asked, grabbing a chair and sitting in it as yunho and changbin greeted hwiyoung. the phoenix saw haknyeon, the pyromancer of the group in front of the fireplace, a lit fire burning inside.

“there’s someone outside.” haknyeon exclaimed. hwiyoung’s eyes widened and motioned everyone to hide in the backroom and stay silent. the owner remained at the bar and saw someone just outside of the bar. a human. humans can’t see the bar, it was enchanted for magical beings to see only.

“where’s xuxi?” hwiyoung hissed at his friends in the backroom as he ducked behind the counter.

“i don’t know!” they all exclaimed quietly. hwiyoung kept ducking behind the bar as he heard footsteps get louder as if they were inside the bar.

“hello?” a voice called out.

“shit, it’s that annoying human yunho and i ran into to. he followed us!” yeosang whispered angrily.

guanheng heard angry voices from somewhere, his head turning to stare at the bar counter and storage room. he swore the three men came in here. suddenly, a bright red thing flew at him and tried to land in his hair but he quickly ducked, the bird flying into the wall and fell to the ground. then, that’s where guanheng was confused.

where the bird fell, a male was now laying there, rubbing his head in agony from contact with the wall. he must’ve triggered something because the front entrance shut loudly and smoke filled up the room. a song filled his ears and he felt entranced to follow it but instead, he saw black and fell to the floor.

the moment guanheng woke up, a broom was in his face and a male, about his age, was standing there.

“that’s enough youngie.” ‘youngie’ huffed and walked to a table, where ten other people were sitting. guanheng turned his head to the bar to see someone cleaning glasses calmly.

“stop cleaning, hyung! we have a problem!” someone from the table yelled, waking up another male who was sleeping.

“shut up, xiaojun. you don’t know how hard being a sandman is.” a sandman? guanheng stared at the sleepy male and then at the ‘xiaojun’ guy. the sandman is a myth. the others gaped at the 'sandman'.

“there’s one in at least every country,” the guy cleaning glasses spoke, finally putting down his cloth and suddenly appearing in front of guanheng.

“now, who are you and how did you find us?” his tone was cold, the opposite to his previous statement.

“hwang kwanhyung. i followed some people. they came here,” guanheng whispered, scared. the person in front of him rubbed his face and sighed.

“why me? anyway, this bar is for people that are different. not like you.” a chair scraped against the wooden boards and the male in front of him turned, staring at someone who had sat in front of the fireplace.

“what’s wrong, haknyeon-hyung?” the guy asked his friend.

“he’s lying, hwiyoung. i don’t think that’s his real name.” hwiyoung turned back to guanheng, staring.

“alright, what’s your real name, kwanhyung?” he asked calmly and guanheng felt like spilling to this hwiyoung guy.

“huang guanheng. i’m from china and i came here two years ago.” one of the workers from the table suddenly stood up and walked over to guanheng. now that he got a good look at him, it was the guy who yelled at hwiyoung.

“guanheng?” that’s when he realised. his childhood friend from china, xiao dejun was here, right in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you liked this, maybe leave a kudo and a comment if you enjoy this story so far?  
> \-- lix


	4. 3 // confusing reunions and a deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> after meeting his childhood friends for the first time in four years, guanheng strikes a deal with hwiyoung

┊ ┊ ┊ ┊  
┊ ┊ ┊ ✧･ﾟ  
┊ ┊ ✧･ﾟ  
┊ ✧･ﾟ  
✧･ﾟ

“dejun?” guanheng asked back. the xiao dejun he had known in china had black hair but now he had beautiful white hair and something trailing up his neck. a tattoo? guanheng didn’t know what to think except what was dejun doing in korea and especially working in a bar? dejun was only a month older than himself and guanheng knew he wasn’t even 20 yet. he felt suspicious of everything but he was snapped out of his thoughts when light spilled into the bar, a voice ringing out.

“hwiyoung, i’m so sorry, my roommate was questioning me- who is this?” the mysterious male sounded familiar. hwiyoung stood up and flicked the guy by the sounds of it.

“hey, you didn’t answer me! who’s the new guy?” he asked and the owner of the bar sighed.

“a human. he found the bar. xuxi-hyung, go sit with the others while i figure out what’s going to happen.” hwiyoung went back to the counter and continued cleaning glasses in silence while the guy that had just appeared sat with the others in front of him. that deep voice was familiar, guanheng had heard it before, back in china.

he had a friend group that he met back in middle school and he was friends with them until two of them moved away somewhere he didn’t know and lost contact with the other three. liu yangyang had moved to korea to study the year after him so that guanheng wasn’t lonely. the minute the guy turned to look at him, guanheng could practically confirm it.

“you!”

xuxi was confused. he studied over the human’s face and then looked back at xiaojun who was standing near him. the human seemed familiar but xuxi couldn’t place where he’d seen him before.

“xuxi, let’s talk,” xiaojun whispered in chinese and dragged the taller to the storage room.

“you remember back when we lived in china and we made friends with those five other boys in middle school? that’s huang guanheng and i think liu yangyang is here too…” xiaojun trailed off, xuxi finally remembering.

“oh! now i remember! guanheng was the one who would mess around with yangyang and yongqin!” xiaojun nodded and the two smiled.

“what a coincidence that we meet guanheng here,” xiaojun murmured. “i wonder how everyone else is going…” xiaojun and xuxi walked back out of the storage room to see guanheng in the seat as before, hwiyoung still cleaning glasses and everyone else staring at them.

“hwiyoung-hyung…”

“how do you two know him?” hwiyoung cut in hastily. xiaojun sighed and decided to finally explain.

“xuxi and i were friends with these five other guys back in middle school and we were all so close but then, our oldest friend and his boyfriend, also part of our group left to travel the world and we both moved to korea where there was a bigger magic community. we don’t know what happened to our other friend but i’m pretty sure the youngest one is here in seoul with guanheng,” xiaojun explained quietly, voice cracking at the end.

mark ran to hug xiaojun tightly as the younger started crying.

“jun-ge, don’t cry please,” guanheng frowned, speaking in chinese for the first time in about a month as three heads turned to look at him. xiaojun, xuxi and the boy in front of the fireplace.

“don’t worry about me, guanheng. i’m just so happy to see you,” xiaojun hugged the younger and someone whispered, “please translate. i can’t speak chinese.” everyone laughed, including xiaojun and guanheng.

“alright, here’s the deal. you help out in the bar as of tomorrow, during the night in exchange for not telling any humans about us.” hwiyoung told guanheng, in the privacy of the backroom. “you should not be here, the spell should have prevented you from seeing the bar but you… you are a miracle.”

“yes, hyung. i promise.”

“you’ll start tomorrow and i expect to see you here straight after you finish up at school. the bar opens at 6 pm on the dot so you have to be here before then,” hwiyoung added, holding out his hand.

“deal.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if you enjoyed this chapter, maybe leave a comment and kudos if you like this story so far (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄)⁄  
> \-- lix


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